Nonstick frying pan helps a lot, reducing oil usage & preparing food faster than a traditional stainless steel frying pan. However, this type of pan needs extra care so that they can last long with full working capability. You’ll need to season a nonstick pan just after purchasing or before using it for the first time. Later on, you can use the pan regularly without seasoning hassle.
It’s normal not to know how to season a nonstick pan if you’re new to this kitchenware. Besides seasoning, most people don’t know how to clean a nonstick pan properly. If you’re one of them, don’t worry. In this article, I’ll talk about nonstick pan & the proper methods of cleaning & seasoning nonstick pan like a professional.
What is a Nonstick Pan?
Nonstick pan is cookware similar to a stainless steel frying pan. But the difference relays on a special coating used in the nonstick pan only. Nonstick pan features dark grey PTFE coating that prevents food materials from sticking to it. Also, oil usage is dramatically low in the nonstick pan compared to traditional pans.
In summary, the nonstick pan is a frying pan with stickiness prevention capability. Less preparation time & oil usage are the most appreciated features of a nonstick pan.
How Do I Know If My Pan Is Nonstick?
Spotting a nonstick is easy. The nonstick pan surface has a dark grey Teflon coating which helps to prevent food from sticking. Some other traits of a nonstick pan are – they’re lighter in weight & the outside material is shinier than others.
Why Do We Need A Nonstick Pan?
We need a nonstick pan for many reasons. Though you can use an ordinary frying pan to make your work done, nonstick will add more value by reducing preparation time & oil consumption. Non-Stick pan comes with other exciting features, and I’ll discuss them in the next section.
What Are The Benefits Of Cooking With A Nonstick Pan?
To this day, every kitchen has at least one nonstick pan for various reasons. Cooking with a nonstick pan gives the user more facility compared to other stainless steel frying pans. Nonstick is an easy switch as it consumes less oil while preparing food. Even some foods don’t even require oil at well. Some of the other benefits a nonstick pan are:
- Lightweight: Nonstick pan tends to be lightweight in comparison to an ordinary frying pan. You can handle your nonstick pan easily, even doing egg & other food flipping is relatively easy & satisfactory.
- Less Preparation Time: One of the most significant advantages of a nonstick pan is the preparation time. It takes less time to prepare food with little to no oil usage. Food gets brown quickly accelerating the overall cooking process.
- Easy Cleaning & Maintenance: Taking proper care of a nonstick pan is relatively easy. If you clean it frequently & season it sometimes, it will last longer than average frying pans. Cleaning and seasoning a pan is a must – if you don’t want coating peeling off after 1 or 2 months of usage.
Non-Stick Pan Maintenance: Seasoning & Cleaning
Seasoning a nonstick pan is a must if you don’t want nonstick coating particles in your dish after 1 or 2 months of usage. Seasoning takes time, but the good news is – you don’t have to do it frequently. Newly bought nonstick pans require seasoning for many reasons. Some of them are:
- Ensuring Months Of Healthy Usage
- Filling Small Pores Of Surface Coating
- Keeping it Nonstick For A Longer Period
- Preventing Coating From Peeling Off
On the other hand, cleaning should be done regularly after each usage. If you fail to do so, you’ll face a hard time cleaning the angry oily surface after a while. Regular cleaning keeps it simple – using & maintaining a nonstick frying pan.
If you’re thinking how to season a nonstick pan as you’ve bought one, think no more and follow the next section. Stay tuned as I’ll be showing different types of nonstick pan cleaning procedure just after the seasoning part.
How To Season A Nonstick Pan?
As you already know the importance of seasoning a newly bought nonstick pan, let me tell you how to do it properly. You can season a nonstick pan with both stove & oven (if it’s oven-safe). First, let’s get started with the stove part.
Seasoning A Nonstick Pan Using a Stove: Step by Step Guide
This type of seasoning is the most common. Some of the nonstick pans aren’t oven-safe, so you’ve to use the stove willingly or unwillingly. Fortunately, using a stove for seasoning is very easy and can be done within six steps. Here are they:
- Step 1: Use water and use a few drops of liquid soap for cleaning any factory packaging residue & dirt.
- Step 2: After cleaning, dry your pan thoroughly using a clean dishcloth or paper towel.
- Step 3: Take any vegetable oil with a high boiling point. I’d recommend using peanut oil or canola oil. Now take one teaspoon of oil & rub it onto the pan surface.
- Step 4: After the oiling part, now put the pan on the stove and set it to medium heat. Take off the pan after 1 to 2 minutes of heating.
- Step 5: Now let your pan cool & dry thoroughly. Later on, wipe out excess oil if there’s any.
- Step 6: It’s up to you whether you want this step or not. If you feel like you don’t want any oily smell, then follow step 1 again, which is cleaning the pan with water & soap.
That’s it. You can season your pan with these easy steps. Now the question arises – how many times should I season a nonstick pan? Well, as a pro chef, I think there is no definite answer to this question. However, follow your manufacturer’s manual in this regard. Some manufacturers suggest to season twice a year & others say to the season once after weeks of usage. I’d recommend seasoning it whenever you want to restore non-stickiness.
Seasoning A Nonstick Pan Using an Oven: Step By Step Guide
If you own an oven and want to season a nonstick pan thoroughly, then this guide is for you. Seasoning a nonstick pan using an oven takes more time than a stove. You can do it within these six easy to follow steps:
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 300 to 350 F
- Step 2: Clean your nonstick pan with water & liquid soap. Make sure to clean up factory residue or packaging dirt properly.
- Step 3: After cleaning properly, dry your pan thoroughly using a clean dishcloth or paper towel.
- Step 4: Now use one teaspoon of peanut oil to rub the surface entirely. You can use a paper towel for spreading oil over the body if you want to.
- Step 4: After doing all this work, place your oiled pan in the preheated oven for an hour.
- Step 5: At last, remove your pan from the oven and let it cool down for a couple of minutes. Also, remove the excess of oil using a paper towel.
- Step 6: Like seasoning with a stove, it’s an optional task. Clean with water and soap if you don’t want the oily smell in your pan & dishes.
As you can see, you have to wait for at least one hour if you’re seasoning with an oven. On the other hand, seasoning with a stove takes less than two minutes. So you can see why seasoning with a stove is more prevalent among users.
How To Clean A Nonstick Pan?
As I’ve mentioned above, frequent seasoning isn’t necessary, but cleaning is. You have to clean your pan after each usage but don’t show your laziness by using a dishwasher. The dishwasher can & will harm nonstick pan by weakening nonstick coating over time. Though some manufactures claim their pan to be dishwasher safe – don’t fall for it. Use hand & liquid soap while cleaning your nonstick pan.
Cleaning a nonstick pan doesn’t mean only using water & soap – though it’s the most common & regularly used cleaning procedure. But what if your pan is burned out and needs a thorough cleaning? In the following sections, I’ll show different cleaning methods step by step. The process is similar to cleaning a cast iron cookware.
Casual Cleaning: Regular Cleaning Method After Each Cooking Session
Almost everybody knows this pan cleaning method. Still, let me remind you of the steps again for cleaning a nonstick pan properly. Here are the two steps you should follow:
- Step 1: Use water and liquid soap for cleaning. You can use a sponge to rinse the surface thoroughly. But, don’t use any sensitive materials like scouring pads and steel wool as they will scratch and damage the nonstick coating.
- Step 2: Dry your nonstick pan properly before putting it on the stove. You can use a paper towel to make the drying process even faster.
Burned Surface Cleaning: Making Non-Stick Pan Like New
Cleaning a burned surface is relatively easier than cleaning burnt food off. Follow these simple three steps to clean your pan’s burned surface and to make it look like new.
- Step 1: Fill your pan with water and pour a few drops of liquid soap in it.
- Step 2: Place it on a stove and set the heat at medium level and Keep it for 5 minutes.
- Step 3: Rinse with a plastic or wooden brush while it’s on the stove.
By following these three steps, you can clean your burned pan surface. You may don’t see a satisfactory result by cleaning only once. But using this method several times, you’ll see improvements.
Cleaning Burnt Food Off: An Easy Four-Step Solution
If you’ve ever burnt your food on a stainless steel frying pan, you know the hassle of cleaning them off. However, following these four steps can make your burnt food disappear from your nonstick pan.
- Step 1: Fill your pan with water and add ¼ cup of baking soda.
- Step 2: Place it on your stove and simmer for ten minutes.
- Step 3: In the meantime, rinse non-stick pan surfaces with a plastic or wooden brush.
- Step 4: Now take off your pan and let it cool completely. Finally, clean your pan casually with water and soap.
By doing these three steps, you can clean burnt food and make your non-stick pad look & function like new. Use proper oil if needed to prevent food from burning & sticking to your pan accidentally.
What Will Happen If I Don’t Clean or Season A Nonstick Pan?
The most beautiful part of a nonstick pan is the stickiness prevention feature. Food won’t stick & little to no oil is needed while cooking – only if you take proper care by seasoning & cleaning. If you don’t clean or season a nonstick pan, you’ll see a massive drop in giving a consistent quality performance. So, clean & season your nonstick pan to save the nonstick glory.
Final Words
In this article, I hope you’ve got a decent idea regarding seasoning & cleaning a nonstick pan. I guess you can now answer thoroughly if somebody asks you how to season a nonstick pan & how to clean a nonstick pan.
A nonstick pan can make your life easier from a cooking perspective – if used & maintained correctly. With that being said, the importance of cleaning & seasoning a nonstick is undeniably immense & every user should know this.